GIS.org.nz

In an email out late last week John from the NZ Geospatial Office announced the following...

Hi All
The New Zealand Geospatial Office is pleased to announce that John Clegg from ProjectX has been awarded second prize for his Mashup - Crime 10K.

Check out Crime 10K @ http://blog.projectxtech.com/page/2/ or http://www.gis.org.nz/wiki/Geospatial_Mash-up_2008_Participants

Cheers
John

Congratulations to John, not only for winning a prize, but for also actually completing a working solution! :) Thanks also to the New Zealand Geospatial office, and the other central and local government organisations that rallied around the mashup.

After the strong turnout at the initial Mashup meeting at the start of May, it is disappointing, but perhaps not unexpected to have so few completed entries. I wonder if the short time frame - e.g. less than 2 months from discussions to submission resulted in too tight a timeline, especially as those that have the skills to mash something up in a short time are probably quite busy with work already? I hope that the Geospatial Office does not lose heart from the low number of submitted entries. I would have liked to have played with the data in Sahana, but I think Sahana needs another 6-12 months before it will be ready to support that, and I certainly wasn't in a position to currently build something from scratch!

Perhaps a competition needs more time to be run? Given that most participants would be doing it as a voluntary effort anyway it may need a 3-6 month timeframe to get more teams participating.

Alternatively, perhaps we look at moving away from a competitive, team-based, do-it-in-your-own-time approach, and try something like a soild 2 days to work through some geospatial issues or a particular theme to provide some focus - for example a mashup to bring a pile of different GIS systems together and work on interoperability around a certain issue. My favourite would be around a disaster scenario as that provides a very dynamic environment where lots of new data is being produced, and mashups are needed to aggregate data from many different organisations, and it is needed in a timely manner.

Who knows? Perhaps trying to get it all nailed in one weekend, or a combined Friday/Saturday (one day off work, one day of weekend) may be a lot easier for most. It also has the added benefit of throwing a pile of people in the same room(s) and setting them to a task, rather than providing an independent, work-at-your-own-pace challenge.

I'd be interested to hear some comments on this issue!

The MapInfo New Zealand User Group have released their Call for Presentations for the annual User Group conference to be held in Wellington in September. More details are contained in the attached pdf.

By telling your GIS story, you’re communicating your best practices, successes, and innovative GIS applications with others who face the same day-to-day challenges. We look forward to hearing about your exciting work in the following areas.

• Pitney Bowes MapInfo
• Case Studies
• Local Government
• Web mapping
• Transportation
• Civil Defence
• Retail
• Application Development

Authors will present a 20 to 30 minute live presentation as part of the 2008 MUGNZ Conference. Abstracts and papers will also be published as part of the conference proceedings.

The first of a few conference announces we're going to circulate here. Yes, I know this one starts today. Note that we will also be including conferences in the gis.org.nz calendar as well.

How GIS can transform organisations
23 & 24 June 2008. Duxton Hotel, Wellington.

This unique and inaugural event will focus on the ability of GIS systems to provide true value through enabling practical solutions to enhance business performance. The event will feature innovative uses of GIS systems from around New Zealand, and how GIS tools are used to provide real business benefits across a range of industries.

The programme will take you through the journeys many organisations have overcome and the challenges associated with GIS to help integrate the tools into everyday business processes. Numerous case studies will demonstrate how results can be achieved and provide plenty of practical solutions to the big issues. Explore lessons learned and make sure you are on the right path to success.

For more in-depth information and hands-on learning, there are also separately bookable half-day workshops:
Gaining Buy-in for Investment in GIS
Developing and Implementing Processes that Ensure Data Quality and Integrity

To view the programme in its entirety, please click on the following link:
http://www.brightstar.co.nz/nz/inaugural-geospatial-information-systems-summit.html

I have just uploaded the following guideline to gis.org.nz. It is also accessible in the wiki.

The purpose of this Guideline is to unlock the government Geospatial Divide that is holding back NZ Inc.

Geospatial data is a key component of the governments Digital Content Strategy, and Geospatial Strategy, key initiatives of the Digital Strategy with its vision of “New Zealand will be a world leader in using information and technology to realise its economic, social, environmental and cultural goals, to the benefit of all New Zealanders.”

This Guideline focuses on the key questions of;

• What information to deliver
• What web channels should be used to deliver that information
• What web presence should be used
• What information barriers should be used if any

LINZ is undertaking a survey to understand the usage of NZTopoOnline. I would encourage everyone to fill it out and let them know how you use the site, and where they could make improvements.

As part of the GOVIS Geospatial miniConference, a maps mashup is being held the day before with data sets being provided by LINZ and others. More information will be made available on the barcamp page (for more on what a barcamp is - click here).

A challenge to innovate! A challenge to find open data! Create and present your mash-up with a few data sets provided for the BarCamp! Cool Prizes! Sponsored by Statistics New Zealand, The New Zealand Geospatial Office and the Spatial Sciences Institute. Entry is open to everybody who is enthusiastic about using New Zealand's core geospatial data in presenting current issues and analysis challenges! MashUp 2008 is an event which brings together New Zealand's leading technical experts, as well as budding enthusiasts, in combining information sources with mapping boundaries and data in innovative ways. Rules of the competition will be downloadable here as soon as possible.

A new research centre has been announced in Christchurch that will focus on geospatial research for business and research purposes.

The Geospatial Research Centre will include a focus on technologies associated with gathering geospatial data, complementing New Zealand’s existing strengths in the analysis and use of such information. Geospatial technology has potential applications in activities as diverse as surveying, environmental monitoring, precision agriculture and global positioning systems.

Trevor Mallard had this to says on the benefits it would provide.

Geospatial technology involves the gathering, storage, processing and use of data that is referenced to geographical location, and has many applications in New Zealand. Some of our companies are already developing world-class capability in this area. Research at the new centre will help increase revenues, reduce costs, and enhance productivity in a variety of industries, delivering an estimated net economic benefit of $63 million over 10 years

Just came across mention of a project in the UK out of Leeds
University to sample mapping the complex utility networks that exist
underground in urban infrastructure. They face the problem of
having to map pipes that were laid more than 200 years ago - and few
records remain about the locations of some networks.

The recently announced Open Source Geospatial Foundation has started a new project to develop resources about Public Geospatial Data. The proposed mission is focused around...

Promote the use of open geospatial formats - Providing best-practise guidelines and examples for use of open and free standards for data (GML, WMS, WFS-T) and metadata (Dublin Core, RDF).

Promote public access to state-collected geodata - Lead by example in demonstrating economic value and research activity generated by open access to public geographic information.

Run a repository of open geodata - A collection of geospatial datasets shall be hosted by the PGDP. Additionally, links to other open data repostories shall be collected.

Present and explain licenses for public geodata - The PGDP aims to collect licenses suitable for the publishing of public geodata. The license shall be presented along with a summary of its benefits and focus.

The Guardian in the UK has an article out comparing the availability of free Government data with the United States which compares a restrictive vs open approach to providing taxpayer funded data to encourage innovation.

Something we could definitely do more of here.